Presentation 07
Presentation 07
Introduction
On a number of TV quiz shows, contestants are asked
to identify a picture. Initially, they are shown only a
small part but then more and more is disclosed until
the object is identified.
Similarly, gradual and progressive disclosure takes
place in the life and ministry of Jesus. Jesus provides
more and more clues to his identity and the purpose
of his mission. The clearer that picture becomes the
more the opposition is intensified. In Ch. 2 as Jesus
reveals more of himself, there is a growing response of
hatred and envy from the religious establishment. This
feeds a growing opposition, which would eventually be
satisfied with nothing less than Jesus’ death.
Presentation 07
The Day The Roof Came Down
Mark links the growth of opposition towards Jesus
with the day the roof came down!
A paralysed man was brought by a human
ambulance to Jesus to be cured but there was no
way through the press of the crowds. The four
friends who carried him were short neither, of
initiative nor, perseverance and they were soon on
the roof making an opening, which enabled them
to lower their sick friend to the feet of Jesus.
Jesus seeing the faith of these men, including that
of the sick man, made a quite remarkable response
'Son your sins are forgiven’ v5. Perhaps the five
most important words which anyone can ever hear.
Presentation 07
The Day The Roof Came Down
It is possible that the man's friends were
immediately disappointed. They wanted something
tangible and visible from Jesus. They wanted their
friend to walk again. But Jesus had bestowed
something which was intangible and invisible. Did
they feel let down? They had hoped for so much for
their friend but he seemed to have received so little.
But ask yourself, was it so little? Jesus had identified
the paralysed man's greatest need and not only his
greatest need but ours as well. The need of
forgiveness. These men witnessed an event which
would cost Jesus nothing less than his life to provide.
Presentation 07
The Day The Roof Came Down
We often entertain too shallow and impersonal a
view of forgiveness treating it mechanically, almost
like taking a wash to the launderette. Put the wash
in the machine, press a button and the work is
done. Or think of the little boy who brings his
muddy clothes home to his mum. He watches as
her red raw hands rub and rub on the washboard
until the stains are removed. Hopefully, the boy is
impressed with the cost of the removal of the
stains which he so thoughtlessly accumulated. He
might even feel a sense of shame as he
remembers with what gay abandon he rolled in
the mire. In future he will surely wear his clean
clothes with a new sense of gratitude.
Presentation 07
The Day The Roof Came Down
This is why I say we shouldn't view forgiveness
mechanically but personally. The forgiveness of our sin
cost Jesus infinitely more than red raw hands. It cost him
the awful sacrifice of his life upon the cross. It was not
something God was obliged to do. How wrong the
German poet, Heinrich Heine, was when he said, “God
will forgive it is his job”. Forgiveness in neither automatic
nor mechanical but a gracious act of God made by his own
volition and costing more than man can measure.
When next we bring our dirty washing to God perhaps we
will abandon the launderette image and approach him
with a deeper sense of shame and receive our clean
garments with a new sense of gratitude.
Presentation 07
The Day The Roof Came Down
The four ambulance-men may have thought their friend was given much less
than they hoped for but there was another group present whose thinking was
travelling in a quite different direction. They were saying to themselves, 'Who
does this carpenter of Nazareth think he is, doling out forgiveness in this
manner, for only God can forgive sins!'
There was nothing wrong with their theology
at this point. They were quite right to think it
blasphemous for man to forgive sins. That is
the preserve of God alone! But they could
still have kept their sound theology intact
and arrived at a quite different conclusion.
Namely, if Jesus truly has authority to
forgive sin, then he must be God.
Presentation 07
The Day The Roof Came Down
This leads us to the nerve centre of their controversy with Jesus. The focus of their
dispute was fixed upon the character of God. They believed, 'God would never deal
so graciously and kindly with such a man therefore, Jesus
cannot be God’. The grace gift of God's forgiveness was
alien to them. They were blind to the fact that the
forgiveness of God is not a narrow, niggardly forgiveness
but one that is full, free, and boundless. A forgiveness
that reflects the excellences of the nature and character
of God. And so they had harshly written off the vast
majority of sinful men as being too bad for God.
Without realising it, many today reject Jesus’ saving work
upon the cross because they too cannot accept the
reality of God's grace gift of forgiveness.
Presentation 07
Seeing Is Believing?
As they sat there stony faced, inwardly accusing Jesus
of blasphemy. And so Jesus presented the religious
leaders with a challenge;
Which was the easier thing to say to the paralytic,
'Your sins are forgiven' or 'Get up and walk?'
Of course the answer is that it is easier to say 'your sins
are forgiven'. Why? Well precisely because it is
impossible to prove or disprove whether anything
has actually happened. You cannot see forgiveness!
But to say to a paralysed, ‘man get up and walk’,
is a harder thing to say, precisely because here is
something which is verifiable! Onlookers were
able to see if Jesus spoke savingly or not!
Presentation 07
Seeing Is Believing?
Can you follow Jesus’ logic? He had just said the ‘easy thing’
and now to prove that his word is trustworthy and that he
actually has power to forgive sin he will now say the difficult
thing! Difficult that is in the minds of the religious leaders,
'get up and walk'.
And to the amazement of the whole company the man got
up and walked home. Jesus had healed him with a word.
This action of Jesus argued for only one possible conclusion.
If his word of healing had been effective then his word of
forgiveness must be effective too!
When Jesus speaks his powerful word of forgiveness to
your heart and mine we are enabled to rise up and
walk home to the presence of our heavenly Father.
Presentation 07
Seeing Is Believing?
By behaving as he did, Jesus demonstrated the very thing that the
religious leaders had greatest difficulty in swallowing, his essential
divinity. Only God can forgive sin!
Over the past century many men, including religious leaders have
attempted to rob Jesus his divinity and force him into their
warped theological framework. Like trying to hammer a
square peg into a round hole! They have been unprepared
to accept that the Creator God needed to clothe himself
in our humanity and to die a sacrificial death in order to
rescue us. They've reduced Jesus to a level that meets
with their approval; a good man, a fine moral teacher,
but no more!
Presentation 07
Seeing Is Believing?
“If you had gone to Buddha and asked him 'Are you the son of Brahma?' he
would have said, 'My son you are still in the vale of illusion' If you had gone to
Socrates and asked, Are you Zeus?' he would have laughed at you. If you had gone
to Mohammed and asked "are you Allah?' He would first have rent his clothes
and then cut your head off--The idea of a great moral teacher saying what Christ
said is out of the question. In my opinion the only person who can say that sort
of thing is either God or a complete lunatic suffering from that form of delusion
which undermines the whole mind of man. If you think you are a poached egg
when you are looking for a piece of toast to suit you, you may be sane, but if
you think you are God there is no chance for you ... He [Jesus] was never
regarded as a mere moral teacher. He did not produce that effect on any of the
people who actually met him. He produced mainly three effects - Hatred - Terror Adoration. There was no trace of people expressing mild approval.” C. S. Lewis
Presentation 07
Seeing Is Believing?
What then is forgiveness?
1. Forgiveness is pardon in a personal setting.
2. It is taking back into friendship those who went against
you, hurt you and put themselves in the wrong with
you.
3. It is graciously compassionate [showing unmerited
kindness to the wrongdoer],
4. It is creative [renewing the spoiled relationship],
5. And inevitably forgiveness is costly.
God's forgiveness is the supreme instance of this for we
find God, in love, restoring fellowship to those who by their
sin had alienated himself from him. And doing so at great
cost to himself through the death of his Son upon the cross.
Presentation 07
Seeing Is Believing?
God promises to forgive sins. That means
both our open sins and your secret sins. It
means those sins we have previously
repented of and subsequently relapsed into.
His mercy dives into your hearts and forgives
our sinful thoughts, it spreads itself upon
your lips and forgives our sinful and
blasphemous word. It saturates our bodies
to forgives every wrong action there. God
will forgive sins which scarcely appear to be
sins in your sight. And will he forgive you
when you see your sins through Satan's
magnifying glass and so begin to consider
them to be greater than God’s mercy.
Presentation 07
Seeing Is Believing?
We can sometimes see our sins as too big for
God to deal with. A man in that condition
once wrote to Martin Luther. The Reformer,
who himself had suffered long agonies over
his own sinfulness and need of forgiveness
replied;
"learn to know Christ and him crucified.
Learn to sing to him and say - Lord Jesus you
are my righteousness, I am your sin. You
took on you what is mine; you set on me
what was yours. You became what you
were that I might become what I was not. "
Presentation 07
Seeing Is Believing?
Now be careful, sometimes when we ask God to
forgive us we are asking him to do something quite
different. We want him not to forgive us but to excuse
us. There is all the difference in the world between
forgiving and excusing! Forgiveness says, ‘Yes you have
done this wrong and I accept your apology. I will never
hold it against you and our relationship will be exactly
as it was before'. But excusing says, 'I see that you
couldn't help it or didn't mean it, you weren't really to
blame'. If no one was not really to blame then there is
nothing to forgive! Sadly, often what we call ‘asking for
God's forgiveness’ very often really consists in ‘asking
God to accept our excuses’!
Presentation 07
Seeing Is Believing?
Mark has led us into the very heart of the gospel:
bringing together man's need of forgiveness and a Jesus
who forgives.
Today, people may not be carried to Christian services on
their beds but their need may be as real as that of the
paralysed man. You may have come looking only for
comfort or encouragement. Perhaps there is some
personal or family matter you wanted brought before
God in prayer. You may have come in order to
encourage another member of your family.
Does Jesus intend to surprise you today by making clear
that your greatest need is the need of forgiveness?
Presentation 07
Conclusion
Do you see forgiveness to be your greatest need? Forgiveness
cost Jesus an agonising death on the cross as he bore the
punishment of your sin? What will it cost you? It is God's
free gift which becomes ours as we indicate our genuine
sorrow to God for all we have done wrong [not
excuses], as we tell him we want to break with a sinful
lifestyle and start walking in fellowship with him. That's
what repentance involves. As we trust and commit
ourselves to what Jesus has accomplished on the cross,
making his forgiveness our own, that's how faith operates.
What is your response to Jesus? It cannot be one of mild
approval. It is a response that grows in one of three directions,
hatred, terror or adoration.
Presentation 07